This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2002-36568, filed Jun. 28, 2002, and Korean Application No. 2002-57157, filed on Sep. 19, 2002 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a kimchi refrigerator, and more particularly, to a kimchi refrigerator which is capable of effectively using an interior storage space.
2. Description of the Related Art
A kimchi refrigerator is an appliance used to store kimchi at low temperatures. Generally, the kimchi refrigerator is provided with a ripening device to ripen the kimchi and a cooling device to store kimchi cool, thus accomplishing the ripening and storage of kimchi.
As shown in FIG. 1, a kimchi refrigerator comprises a cabinet 1 which defines an appearance of the kimchi refrigerator. A storage compartment 2 to store kimchi is defined in the cabinet 1. The storage compartment 2 is open at a top and through the opening at the top, food including kimchi can be put into the storage compartment 2. The kimchi refrigerator has a door 3 so as to selectively close the opening at the top of the storage compartment 2.
The cabinet 1 of the kimchi refrigerator is provided on a lower portion with a machine room 4. The machine room 4 houses several electrical devices to operate the kimchi refrigerator.
The machine room 4 occupies an entire area of a lower portion of the cabinet 1. A capillary tube (not shown), a compressor 4a, a blowing fan 4b, and a condensing heat exchanger 4c are located in the machine room 4. The compressor 4a is used to compress a refrigerant. The blowing fan 4b sucks and discharges outside air. The condensing heat exchanger 4c transfers heat to the outside air flowing into the machine room 4, thereby condensing the refrigerant.
Air inlet holes 1 a and air outlet holes 1b are provided on a rear wall of the machine room 4. The outside air flows into the machine room 4 through the air inlet holes 1a. Thereafter, air which passes through the condensing heat exchanger 4c is discharged through the air outlet holes 1b formed on a rear wall of the cabinet 1. That is, the kimchi refrigerator is designed such that air flows into the machine room 4 through the rear wall of the cabinet 1, and is discharged through the rear wall of the cabinet 1 after the condensing heat exchanger 4c transfers heat to the outside air flowing into the machine room 4.
However, the conventional kimchi refrigerator is problematic in that a machine room 4 occupies the entire lower portion of the cabinet 1. Thus, a space required to house the machine room 4 is too large, so the storage compartment 2 to store kimchi is undesirably small considering a size of the cabinet 1.
Further, the outside air is sucked through the air inlet holes 1a provided on the rear wall of the cabinet 1 and then is discharged through the air outlet holes 1b provided on the rear wall of the cabinet 1. Since high-temperature air, which has absorbed heat from the condensing heat exchanger 4c, is discharged through the rear wall of the cabinet 1, air temperature around the rear wall is high. Thus, a portion of the discharged hot air is sucked again through the rear wall, thus reducing a heat exchanging efficiency or cooling efficiency of the condensing heat exchanger 4c. 
Accordingly, a kimchi refrigerator is provided, which has a sufficiently large interior storage space.
Further, a kimchi refrigerator is provided which is capable of further increasing a cooling efficiency of the kimchi refrigerator.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
In order to accomplish the above and/or other aspects, a kimchi refrigerator comprises a cabinet, two or more storage compartments provided in the cabinet to store kimchi, and a machine room provided in the cabinet to house electrical devices, wherein the machine room is arranged from a front to a rear of the cabinet at a position under one of the storage compartments.
One or more storage compartments, under which the machine room is not located, are formed such that a bottom of the one or more storage compartments is/are deeper than a bottom of the one storage compartment which is positioned above the machine room.
The machine room includes a compressor, which compresses a refrigerant, a condensing heat exchanger, which transfers heat to outside air flowing into the machine room, thereby condensing the refrigerant, and a blowing fan which sucks the outside air into the machine room and discharges air which has passed through the condensing heat exchanger to an outside.
The condensing heat exchanger, blowing fan, and compressor may be sequentially arranged in the machine room in a direction from the front of the machine room to the rear of the machine room. Alternatively, the condensing heat exchanger, compressor, and blowing fan may be sequentially arranged in the machine room in a direction from the front of the machine room to the rear of the machine room.
In addition, an air inlet hole is provided at a lower portion of the front of the machine room so as to suck the outside air into the machine room, and an air outlet hole is provided at the rear of the machine room discharging air which has passed through the condensing heat exchanger to the outside.
A guide member is provided between the condensing heat exchanger and the compressor to close a gap between the blowing fan and inner walls of the machine room, with a through hole formed on the guide member which allows the blowing fan to be mounted in the through hole.
A blocking member is provided in the machine room, such that the blocking member closes a gap between the condensing heat exchanger and the inner walls of the machine room, thus allowing the outside air flowing into the machine room to pass through the condensing heat exchanger.
Air inlet holes may be provided on a front of a lower surface of the cabinet defining a lower surface of the machine room, and air outlet holes may be provided on a lower portion of the rear surface of the cabinet defining a rear surface of the machine room.
Further, a subsidiary air inlet hole is provided at a predetermined position on the lower portion of the machine room so as to sufficiently suck the outside air into the machine room, and a guide rib is provided at a position around the subsidiary air inlet hole so as to guide the outside air to the condensing heat exchanger.